The next release of VP8 has been, uh... released...

It's codenamed Bali:

http://blog.webmproject.org/2011/03/...-released.html

It bolsters some very interesting

• "Best" mode average encoding speed: On x86 processors, Bali runs 4.5x as fast than our initial release and 1.35x faster than Aylesbury.
• "Good" mode average encoding speed: Bali is 2.7x faster than our initial release and 1.4x faster than Aylesbury.
• On ARM platforms with Neon extensions, real-time encoding of video telephony content is 7% faster than Aylesbury on single core ARM Cortex A9, 15% on dual-core and 26% on quad core.
• On the NVidia Tegra2 platform, real time encoding is 21-36% faster than Aylesbury, depending on encoding parameters.
• "Best" mode average quality improved 6.3% over Aylesbury using the PSNR metric.
• "Best" mode average quality improved 6.1% over Aylesbury using the SSIM metric.

This is very exciting, and it's great that there's a quality open codec available for sip video calls.

It's worth noting that Tegra2 does not have NEON extensions, and the encoding performance is better than realtime as was the first release.

It seems NaCL has some competition! GDK+ 3.2 allows users to remotely or locally run applications in a web browser (via HTML5)!

http://www.webupd8.org/2011/03/gtk-3...plication.html (with flash video)

HD WEBM VIDEO: http://www.gnome.org/~alexl/broadway-screencast.webm

This will support any GDK application (eg. image/video editing)!

Right now, it only works with Firefox 4, but hopefully other browser support will be forthcoming.

Think about it: your entire operation could be remote, or shared between trusted computers! I suspect that unlike VNC it will be executed client-side for peak performance, though I'm not sure of the implementation as of yet.

This. Is. Huge.

Want a feel of what's possible with a web-app these days? Take a look at Mr. Doobs minecraft demo:

http://mrdoob.github.com/three.js/ex...ecraft_ao.html *

*this requires WebGL, so you may need Chrome Nightly or another browser

Yep, this is just Javascript. Impressive nay?

This is interesting:

Chrome OS launch screen gets touch-friendly:

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/03/goo...ndly-tab-page/

This might be indicative that Chrome OS is to be targeted to tablets.

My prediction? ChromeOS will be released on low-cost tablet 'appliances' a generation from now.

This could be a very interesting chromeOS device.

11.6" Sony Vaio running on Tegra2:


I saw a competent in-browser SSH client the other day, and with the insane security provided by chrome OS, this could make a powerful workstation to connect to your server.

As more apps become web-ified, this may make an ultra-thin, ultra-light, ultra-long lasting productivity device, for coding and basic productivity.

I just wish Sony was a bit more forward thinking and opted to include the luscious Tegra 3 -- then it would truly compete!

This is the web re-defined.

Speech recognition is coming to Chrome:

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/03/spe...e-chrome-beta/

This opens the door for a totally different way of interacting on the web. Giving talented web developers the power to easily incorporate voice is a game changer.

I can't wait until more browser implement this part of the HTML5 spec.

It bodes well for Chrome OS (and chrome browsers), though in the short term, that has dedicated support via the Chrome web store and as such an easy way to find services that support this standard feature.

C-c-c-c-combo breaker!

Holy s**t! This is f**king cool:

I just tested out the HTML5 text input, and was FLOORED!
http://slides.html5rocks.com/#speech-input

It works so well! For those that are adventurous, download the Chrome beta (or whatever designation version 11 is). This demo does what is expected: it does speech-to-text in the browser.

This is extremely exciting!

Well, well, well... It seems that Google alone isn't the only company that sees the future of applications being on the web.

Motorola has dropped its hat into the fray;

http://androidandme.com/2011/03/phon...-web-based-os/

I suspect a web based OS is easy to develop and secure as the environment is extremely predictable, and many components are open for the plundering.

I'm curious to see what type of a spin they put on this web-based OS...

Looking for an AWESOME webGL example?

Check this out:

http://www.chromeexperiments.com/det...webgl/?f=webgl

Very nice...